Isaiah 65:23

23 They shall not labor for nothing, and they shall not give birth to horror, for they {shall be offspring blessed by} Yahweh, and their descendants with them.

Isaiah 65:23 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 65:23

They shall not labour in vain
As they do, who build houses, and enemies come and turn them out of them, and dwell in them themselves; or who plant vineyards, and sow their fields, and strangers come and devour them; or they are smitten with blasting and mildew: nor bring forth for trouble;
for death, as the Targum; or for a curse, as the Septuagint: the tense is, they shall not beget and bring forth children, that shall immediately die by some distemper or another, or be taken off by famine, sword, or pestilence, to the great grief and trouble of their parents; but these shall live, and outlive their parents, so that their death will never be a trouble to them: for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring
with them;
or, "they are a seed, the blessed of the Lord" F9; or, "they are the seed blessed of God", or "the Lord", as the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions; or, as the Targum,

``a seed whom the Lord hath blessed;''
a spiritual seed of the church, a seed raised up to serve the Lord, whom he blesses with temporal and spiritual blessings; and their offspring also, being made a spiritual seed by the grace of God, and succeeding them in the church, and treading in their steps.
FOOTNOTES:

F9 (hmh hwhy ykwrb erz yk) "quia [sunt] semens, benedicti Domini ipsi"; which tension is most agreeable to the accents.

Isaiah 65:23 In-Context

21 And they shall build houses and inhabit [them], and they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22 They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat. For the days of my people [shall be] like the days of [a] tree, and my chosen ones shall enjoy the work of their hands.
23 They shall not labor for nothing, and they shall not give birth to horror, for they {shall be offspring blessed by} Yahweh, and their descendants with them.
24 And this will happen: before they call, I myself will answer; [while] still they [are] speaking, I myself will hear.
25 [The] wolf and [the] lamb shall feed like one, and [the] lion shall eat straw like the ox, but dust [shall be] [the] serpent's food. They shall do no evil, and they shall not destroy on all {my holy mountain}," says Yahweh.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Literally "the offspring of the blessing of"
Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.